Need a new "living room" .wav player - please help bring me into the 21st century
#1054595 - 28/06/13 02:17 AM

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Hello all -

My c. 1999 CD player finally stopped working. I used it to play CDs
of my ongoing mixes in the "home speaker" environment. The other place I play the CDs for
this purpose is in my car.

I guess I need to replace the CD player so as to
continue to be able to listen to my commercial CDs, but I think I will also look for a
device that has a USB port so I can just pop that in from my Cubase project, skipping the
CD-burning phase. Looking for as inexpensive as possible.

If anyone has any
suggestions, either of options to buy or avoid, or a different approach to take, please
put them here -

My c. 1999 CD player finally stopped working. I used it to play CDs of my ongoing
mixes in the "home speaker" environment. The other place I play the CDs for this purpose
is in my car.

I guess I need to replace the CD player so as to continue to be
able to listen to my commercial CDs, but I think I will also look for a device that has a
USB port so I can just pop that in from my Cubase project, skipping the CD-burning phase.
Looking for as inexpensive as possible.

If anyone has any suggestions, either
of options to buy or avoid, or a different approach to take, please put them here -

Thanks!

Thank you The Elf. Being
as it is a game playing device as well, I would probably be spending for something I
wouldn't use, but I'll take a look. Can it play .wav files from a USB stick?

You can find a variety of "digital media player," "streaming media player" and "networked
media player" boxes equipped with USB ports which will play wav and other audio (and
video) file formats from connected USB storage media as well as over a wired and/or
wireles network. These players do typically require connection to a TV (for displaying the
user interface) and are typically controlled with a provided remote controller. Been using
a Western Digital player as well as a Popcorn Hour player, which replaced a couple of
HTPCs. Very versatile and convenient.

Make sure to check the specs for whether
the outputs are compatible with your "living room" audio/video setup and for which formats
the unit can decode/play.

Quote alexis:Thank you The Elf.
Being as it is a game playing device as well, I would probably be spending for something I
wouldn't use, but I'll take a look. Can it play .wav files from a USB stick?

When I got my PS3 a number of years ago I
also didn't need it to play games, but it was a very cheap Blu-Ray player in comparison to
what was then available. To be honest, I still don't much use it for games, but a bit of
Resident Evil or Silent Hill is welcome every once in a while!

I just tried
copying a 44.1 16-bit wav file to a USB stick, and plugged it into the PS3. At first the
PS3 said it couldn't find anything, but a press of the triangle button and 'Display All'
seemed to find it and the wav file played back fine. TBH I just play audio directly from
my studio PC's mixes folder over the network, so it's not something I have any need
for.

FWIW the PS3 can also be a TV receiver and recorder too - just in case
this makes any difference to you. I also supplemented mine with a standard TV-like remote control. I'd miss my PS3 greatly if it went - it handles all my
media content for living room playback.

Thank you The Elf again, and Goddard. As it turns out, my DVD player gave up the ghost not
long ago, so a PS3 functioning as a combo DVD/CD/"USB stick" player might be very
economical (I looked up the PS3 cost on line, $250-300 ,US).

The Elf, your
last post about networking made me think about wireless alternatives.

I
wonder if I can purchase some kind of product that takes the audio (or S/PDIF) out from my
mixer and sends it wirelessly to a receiver sitting on top of my home stereo amplifier ...
then connect the two via RCA cables (or connect the "wireless receiving device" to the PS3
instead, if I go in that direction)? [I have an old, but STABLE and functional XP DAW, and
don't want to upset it by loading any new programs, even ones that might make it transmit
wirelessly. I am just so hopeless and slow in troubleshooting computer problems, it's
embarassing, but I know my limitations].

That way I can a) be wireless, b)
not risk the wrath of my XP computer for messing with its copacetic but possibly fragile
state, and c) still play my CDs if I don't go the route of getting something like the PS3
(although from my DAW computer).

Quote alexis:I wonder if I can
purchase some kind of product that takes the audio (or S/PDIF) out from my mixer and sends
it wirelessly to a receiver sitting on top of my home stereo amplifier ...

There's no need for all that complicated malarky.
If your PC's Media Player can see a piece of audio, then the networked PS3 will see it too
- it uses your PC as a Media Server (assuming you have sharing switched on). Render your
mix; put the mix file somewhere that your PC's Media Player can see it; play it from the
PS3 - job done!

Re: Need a new "living room" .wav player - please help bring me into the 21st century
[Re: The Elf]
#1054712 - 28/06/13 07:54 PM

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Quote The Elf:

Quote alexis:I wonder if I can
purchase some kind of product that takes the audio (or S/PDIF) out from my mixer and sends
it wirelessly to a receiver sitting on top of my home stereo amplifier ...

There's no need for all that complicated malarky.
If your PC's Media Player can see a piece of audio, then the networked PS3 will see it too
- it uses your PC as a Media Server (assuming you have sharing switched on). Render your
mix; put the mix file somewhere that your PC's Media Player can see it; play it from the
PS3 - job done!

Thanks, The Elf,
but my computer is intentionally not networked or connected to anything, so I will have to
get the connectivity from my mixer, I think.

I wonder if I
can purchase some kind of product that takes the audio (or S/PDIF) out from my mixer and
sends it wirelessly to a receiver sitting on top of my home stereo amplifier ...

Low power FM transmitter perhaps? If
you already have a tuner for your stereo then it is probably about the cheapest way to do
it. I must admit that having had the luxury of a decent sounding DVD player in the living
room (a Pioneer DV575), I would be hesistant about going for something multimedia based to
listen to music on critically. The Pioneer just sounds so much better than anything else I
plug in to the stereo.

Re: Need a new "living room" .wav player - please help bring me into the 21st century
[Re: James Perrett]
#1054768 - 29/06/13 01:02 PM

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Quote James Perrett:

Quote alexis:

I wonder
if I can purchase some kind of product that takes the audio (or S/PDIF) out from my mixer
and sends it wirelessly to a receiver sitting on top of my home stereo amplifier ...

Low power FM transmitter
perhaps? If you already have a tuner for your stereo then it is probably about the
cheapest way to do it. I must admit that having had the luxury of a decent sounding DVD
player in the living room (a Pioneer DV575), I would be hesistant about going for
something multimedia based to listen to music on critically. The Pioneer just sounds
so much better than anything else I plug in to the stereo.

James

thank you for that, James. Is it the hardware
aspect of multimedia you have concerns about? Or that wireless technology like Bluetooth
might affect the quality?

The Pioneer cost me under 100 quid a few years ago and plays DVD's CD's, SACD's, DVD-A and
various computer formats - I'd be surprised if you can pick up a similarly priced media
player that sounds as good although I'm sure that you might find something good but more
expensive in the hifi world though I don't have much knowledge of what is available at the
moment.

Re: Need a new "living room" .wav player - please help bring me into the 21st century
[Re: James Perrett]
#1054781 - 29/06/13 02:50 PM

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Quote James Perrett:The Pioneer
cost me under 100 quid a few years ago and plays DVD's CD's, SACD's, DVD-A and various
computer formats - I'd be surprised if you can pick up a similarly priced media player
that sounds as good although I'm sure that you might find something good but more
expensive in the hifi world though I don't have much knowledge of what is available at the
moment.

Thank you for that,
James, and I'm sorry for the high level of ignorance here, but I'd like to follow up with
another question or two for you or anyone else:

1) How are you distinguishing
the Pioneer, which plays CD/DVD/SACD etc., from a "media player"?2) When you say it
might not sound as good ... why would that be in a technical/audio engineering sense? I
know about data compression problems with .mp3s, etc., is that the kind of thing that
might be important here?

BTW - I am also looking at an LG Blu Ray, which seems
to be similar in functionality to the Pioneer, and at a nice price too.

I've done some reading on Blu Tooth technology. I'm a little concerned that it might not
be the best thing for critical listening as it seems it is subject to tempo changes
(mainly slowing down), skipping and other glitches when near EM sources or metal objects -
maybe not the best option to use in proximity to a mixer/DAW.

A low-power FM
transmitter was mentioned above - does anyone here have experience with that? Would anyone
know if the specs at the bottom of this page:

No one uses an FM transmitter to their home stereo amplifier/tuner for critical listening
of mixes?

I guess that answers the question - if it were a good idea, someone
of the esteemed SOSsers would have come across it!

I thought maybe it would be
a problem of collapsing to mono if the signal got weak, but there's a 150 yard range of
these transmitters apparently, shouldn't be a problem from that point of view for home
use. Is FM just not capable of transmitting good quality data for critical listening?

Thank you for
that, James, and I'm sorry for the high level of ignorance here, but I'd like to follow up
with another question or two for you or anyone else:

1) How are you
distinguishing the Pioneer, which plays CD/DVD/SACD etc., from a "media player"?2)
When you say it might not sound as good ... why would that be in a technical/audio
engineering sense? I know about data compression problems with .mp3s, etc., is that the
kind of thing that might be important here?

BTW - I am also looking at an LG
Blu Ray, which seems to be similar in functionality to the Pioneer, and at a nice price
too.

Hi Alexis - I'm
trundling around the Black Sea on a ship at the moment so I may not see your replies very
quickly...

OK - I must admit that most of the units I've compared the Pioneer
to have been things like laptops, digital TV boxes and mobile phones which don't come
close to the quality and depth of sound from the Pioneer. I'm mainly talking about
uncompressed files here although even mp3 files seem to have a greater depth through the
Pioneer. I would certainly compare the Pioneer's sound quality to that of my Focusrite or
Sonifex convertors. I've not done any particularly scientific tests but I just have more
'that sounds good' moments when listening on the Pioneer.

Re: Need a new "living room" .wav player - please help bring me into the 21st century
[Re: James Perrett]
#1054932 - 30/06/13 09:37 PM

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Quote James Perrett:

Quote alexis:

Thank you
for that, James, and I'm sorry for the high level of ignorance here, but I'd like to
follow up with another question or two for you or anyone else:

1) How are you
distinguishing the Pioneer, which plays CD/DVD/SACD etc., from a "media player"?2)
When you say it might not sound as good ... why would that be in a technical/audio
engineering sense? I know about data compression problems with .mp3s, etc., is that the
kind of thing that might be important here?

BTW - I am also looking at an LG
Blu Ray, which seems to be similar in functionality to the Pioneer, and at a nice price
too.

Hi Alexis - I'm
trundling around the Black Sea on a ship at the moment so I may not see your replies very
quickly...

OK - I must admit that most of the units I've compared the Pioneer
to have been things like laptops, digital TV boxes and mobile phones which don't come
close to the quality and depth of sound from the Pioneer. I'm mainly talking about
uncompressed files here although even mp3 files seem to have a greater depth through the
Pioneer. I would certainly compare the Pioneer's sound quality to that of my Focusrite or
Sonifex convertors. I've not done any particularly scientific tests but I just have more
'that sounds good' moments when listening on the Pioneer.

Just to report back: I received the home FM transmitter today. So far it seems to work
just fine, 89.5 FM is now "Alexis Radio". I've played some of my stuff and some commercial
stuff, and it sounds fine. Haven't yet A/B'd it with a CD run through the same home
amplifier, but so far, so good.

Also went out to the garage and tuned the
car radio to the same station, sounds fine there too. I also played the same song through
an .mp3 there, and it sounded pretty close if not identical for the few moments I A/B'd
it.

I just installed a line from my studio to my 'home' listening room, in which the hi-fi amp
had an available source. Not only can I listen to my mixes in the home environment, I can
also compare them to what is on the radio, as my hi-fi set up includes a tuner. Very
useful for checking and comparing.

Quote alexis:Hi Jeraldo - It's
the one I linked to in my post on 6-29.

I read over that little detail. Thanks for mentioning that, I'd not seen that
one before.

Quote
alexis:I thought of BlueTooth also, but kept reading about drop outs
and other such stuff.

BlueTooth functionality depends on both the transmitter and the receiver, of course, but
the inexpensive Bluetooth Logitch device (receiver) I mentioned has great "reach" with my
laptop and iPod Touch. It functions without noise through several walls in a very
challenging environment.

There is also a proprietary Wi-Fi solution by a
company called audioengine.

But you've already found your solution, and it
looks like a good one. And the transmitter you mention may work well for me in some other
applications.